Meet the evening’s host: 

Austin Phillips is a builder and restorer of professional ventriloquist figures, and puppets alike. He is a ventriloquial history, and Punch and Judy enthusiast with an extensive collection of antique figures and artifacts that date back as late as the 1800’s. Austin lives out his passion each day creating, repairing, and restoring ventriloquist figures in his workshop overlooking the heart of downtown Portland. 

Stage Manager:

Lily Phillips-Carter is a stained glass artist specializing traditional New England, and folk art compositions. She utilizes her background in illustration and passion for history to create one-of-a-kind pieces in her home studio, full-time. Lily appears each October alongside her husband, Austin, in a Victorian spook show presented at Mayo Street Arts.  @lilycarterillustration

House Band- Ideal Maine Social Aid Sanctuary Band

The Ideal Maine Social Aid and Sanctuary Band is a Portland, ME based community activist band in the New Orleans street band tradition, embracing a broad range of diverse music. Our performances bring joy and danceable grooves to public displays of celebration, advocacy, and solidarity. We support progressive movements and believe that through music and song, we can fight apathy and work together toward peace and social justice for all. @idealmaineband

Tonight’s Acts!

Stop Puppeting Yourself Puppet Co. “Excerpt of Toot”

“Stop Puppeting Yourself” is: Elliot Nye, Caroline James, Asa Shadis, Maggie Muth and, (absent tonight) Simi Kunin. “Stop Puppeting Yourself” (Rebrand of “The Ultimate Team”) a rotating group of puppeteers and artists who make puppet shows in Portland, Maine.  This performance is a demo scene from a full-length puppet show in progress (Working Title: Thunder Is The Song Of Lightening) about a city that develops into a sentient organism, and the John Toots therein. It is a tabletop puppet show inspired by science fiction media that considers industrialization, urbanization, fractal reality, the living earth theory, anthills, autonomy within unfathomable collectives, and questions like: “Did we make god in our image?”, or “Did we make puppet in our image?”

Aubrey Calaway “The Sock Who Became a Glove”

Aubrey Calaway is a Portland-based audio producer and writer. He is a graduate of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, and was the 2023 Salt artist-in-residence at Monson Arts. 

Isaac Atkins “Patchwork Girl”

Isaac Atkins is a Midcoast Maine artist who earned a BFA from Maine College of Art. He is a full-time laser technician and woodworker. In his free time, he likes to paint detailed portraits and piece together various textiles that will later become wearable art. He is a multidisciplinary artist, or just someone who always has five art projects waiting on the back burner. His puppet performance Patchwork Girl honours the cheap charm of decorative upcycled clothing and embraces a wide variety of forms, textures and movements. http://www.catkins.studio.        instagram.com/1saacatkins 

C.J. Opperthauser – “Faux / Fox”

C.J. Opperthauser (he/him) is a public space nerd, sometimes-musician, tender nostalgic bozo, and enthusiastic explorer of the puppet scene. This is his third time participating in or captaining a KFD performance at the wonderful MSA. mmmmm@sweetcousinmaldehyde Tom Haushalter (he/him) is a poet, writer, and active member of the Portland theater community, having appeared (or soon to appear) on stage with Portland Players, Out There Theater Company, Mad Horse Theatre, and Good Theater.

Luke Myers “A Cry for Kelp”

Luke’s most recent puppet projects include the Two Wheel Tour with Minneapolis’s Open Eye Figure Theatre, and a solo shadow-puppet play projected through his childhood bedroom window called Everybody Dies! The slam will feature the final scene from Luke’s next project, A Cry For Kelp— a choose-your-own-adventure shadow puppet play about a young kelp farmer who tries to save his village from an unhinged kelp-hoarding industrialist. https://www.lkmyers.com    IG: lukingsbury

Adam Phillips – “Puppet In Black”

Based in Baldwin, Maine, Adam has recently rediscovered his passion for puppetry and the intricate craft of puppet-making. Keep an eye out around Portland as there are plenty more characters and stars on the way!

Top Hat Miniature Productions – ABC Cafe Scene from “Les Miserables”

For King Friday’s Dungeon, David Worobec of Tophat Productions is excited to share a sneak peek at his next miniature stage production happening at Mayo Street Arts this fall. To celebrate the musical’s 40th anniversary, Tophat Productions is proud to be bringing back Les Misérables. His very talented friend, Bethany Perkins, who joined Tophat in doing Jekyll & Hyde last October and The Phantom of the Opera in 2023 will be joining him for Les Misérables. In this scene, students of the ABC Café are planning their rebellion. When they receive news that the man they look up to, General Jean Maximilien Lamarque has died, they become more motivated than ever and take to the streets. https://tophatshows.com

Madison J. Cripps – “Earl the Pearl”

Madison J. Cripps became a professional puppeteer in 2006 while working on a small farm in the Berkshire Mtns. Supporting his puppetry is a diverse history of fine art, construction, environmentalism, and theater. In 2008, Madison was awarded a grant from the Mass. Cultural Council for the Cripps Walking Theatre Project. He moved to Asheville, NC from 2009 to 2015 and was an active member of the performing arts community. During that time Cripps was awarded an UNIMA citation of excellence in puppetry for his work on Billy the Liar in 2014. IG: @madisonj.cripps // crippscreations.com

Crooked Square Puppetry – “The American Theater is Alive and Well”

Puppets and performance by Sonya Sobieski. Direction by Robert Davenport. Technical Advisor: Jim Freeman Sonya Sobieski a.k.a. Crooked Square is a playwright and dramaturg turned pandemic puppeteer. Her short films have been presented around the U.S. and in Canada. Live on stage in NYC: La Mama Puppet Slam, Drama of Works, We Wiggle Dolls, and The Idiot’s Hour. Aspiring clown at Brooklyn Comedy Collective. Recent (literally) cool thing: Curators’ Choice award at the fourth annual Governors Island Ice Sculpture Show! IG:  @crookedsquare // https://www.youtube.com/@crookedsquarepuppetry

Brzezinski & Schap – “Say Mama”

Brzezinski & Schap, the creative partnership of Caitlin Brzezinski and Libby Schap, present their work in progress Say Mama, about the terrifying experience of new parenthood. Their premiere production, Flying Lessons, toured the US and received the Jim Henson Foundation Grant.  IG: @brzezinski.and.schap //  https://vimeo.com/brzezinskiandschap 

This season’s poster was designed by illustrator Kate Gardiner! https://www.kategardinerillustration.com/

King Friday’s Dungeon Puppet Slam is part of the national Puppet Slam Network created by Heather Henson and curated by local Maine puppeteers.

Thank you for coming to the show!